Pia Sundhage

Pia Sundhage
	Sundhage in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Pia Mariane Sundhage
Date of birth	13 February 1960 (age 61)
Place of birth	Ulricehamn, Sweden
Club information
Current team	Brazil Women
Youth career
1975	IFK Ulricehamn
1975–1976
Senior career*
Years	Team
1977–1978	Falköpings KIK
1979–1981	Jitex BK
1982–1983	Östers IF
1984	Jitex BK
1985	S.S. Lazio
1985	Stattena IF
1985	Jitex BK
1986	Hammarby IF DFF
1987–1989	Jitex BK
1990–1996	Hammarby IF DFF
National team
1975–1996	Sweden
Teams managed
1992–1994	Hammarby IF DFF (player-manager)
1998–1999	Vallentuna BK (assistant)
2000	AIK Fotboll Dam (assistant)
2001–2002	Philadelphia Charge (assistant)
2003	Boston Breakers
2004	Kolbotn Fotball
2005–2006	KIF Örebro DFF
2007	China (assistant)
2008–2012	United States
2012–2017	Sweden
2018–2019	Sweden U17
2019–	Brazil
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Pia Mariane Sundhage (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈpîːa ˈsɵ̂nːdˌhɑːɡɛ]; born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football coach and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team.^[2] As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer for the Sweden national team, but she also had stints playing as a midfielder and a sweeper.

Sundhage was the head coach of the United States women's national team from 2008 to 2012 and led the team to two Olympic gold medals and a silver medal at the World Cup. Her success led to her winning the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year. Sundhage later became the head coach of her native Sweden women's national football team from 2012 to 2017, winning an Olympic silver medal in 2016.

Club career[]

Sundhage started with IFK Ulricehamn as a youth player and eventually moved to Falköpings KIK in 1978. She then joined Jitex BK from 1979 to 1981. Sundhage played 1982 to 1983 with Östers IF, scoring 30 times in her first season with the club and chipping in 35 more in her second season. 1984 saw a move back to Jitex BK, while 1985 saw Sundhage split time between Stattena IF, S.S. Lazio (where she scored 17 times), and Jitex BK. She played the 1986 season with Hammarby IF DFF, before she moved back to Jitex BK from 1979 through 1989. Sundhage finished her career with Hammarby IF DFF, playing from 1990 until she retired in 1996.

She won four Damallsvenskan championships, all with Jitex BK, as well as two additional Svenska Cupen with the club. She also won two Svenska Cupen with Hammarby IF DFF.

International career[]

Sundhage made her first appearance for the Sweden national team as a 15-year-old in 1975, eventually amassing 146 caps and scoring 71 goals for her country.^[3] Her 71 goals gave her joint-lead with Lena Videkull for the most in the Swedish national team history, a record which has since been surpassed by both Hanna Ljungberg and Lotta Schelin.

She participated for Sweden in the 1991 (a third-place finish) and 1995 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup and the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won, and was the top scorer, in the 1984 UEFA Women's Championship. Her image appeared on a Swedish postage stamp in 1988.^[4] In 1989 Sundhage scored the first goal in a women's match at Wembley Stadium, as Sweden beat England 2–0 in a curtain–raiser for the Rous Cup.^[5]

In 2000, Sundhage finished sixth in the voting for FIFA Women's Player of the Century.

Coaching career[]

Pre-United States[]

Sundhage got her start in coaching as a player/manager when she was with Hammarby IF DFF from 1992 to 1994. She then took assistants jobs with Vallentuna BK (1998 to 1999) and AIK Fotboll Dam (2000) before moving across the Atlantic Ocean to become an assistant with Philadelphia Charge of the new Women's United Soccer Association in the United States. She eventually was hired on by Boston Breakers as the head coach, winning the league title and being named the 2003 WUSA Coach of the Year in the process. Once the WUSA folded however, it was back to Scandinavia to take on further coaching positions.

Her relationship with the Boston Breakers led United States Women's national team captain Kristine Lilly and fellow USWNT player Kate Markgraf joining her in the Swedish Damallsvenskan when Pia coached KIF Örebro DFF from 2005 to 2006, after a brief stint with Kolbotn IL in 2004. Lilly said she "wanted to play for Pia again."

Sundhage served as an assistant to Marika Domanski-Lyfors for the China Women's national team during the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

United States Women's national team[]

Pia Sundhage was announced as the United States Women's national team head coach on 13 November 2007.^[6] She became the seventh head coach in the U.S. team's history and the third woman. Lauren Gregg was in charge for 3 games in 2000, April Heinrichs led the squad from 2000–2004 and won the 2004 Summer Olympics, while Sundhage served as a scout for the United States during the 2004 Olympics.

United States women's national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics

While at the helm of the United States, Sundhage won the 2008 Algarve Cup and gold medals at both the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was on the verge of winning the 2009 Algarve Cup, but the United States lost out to Sundhage's native Sweden on penalties. However, she did win the 2010 Algarve Cup a year later, defeating World and European Champions Germany 3–2 in the final.

She coached the Women's team to the final of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where the team advanced to the final for the first time since 1999. However, they were upset by Japan, losing 3–1 on penalty kicks. A year later, Sundhage coached the USWNT to another gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, defeating Japan 2–1 in a Women's World Cup final rematch, with Carli Lloyd scoring both goals.

On 1 September 2012, Sundhage announced she was stepping down as the U.S Women's head coach having expressed a desire to seek opportunities in her native Sweden. Sundhage announced she would coach the U.S. team's games on 16 and 19 September on the team's Olympic victory tour before officially resigning. "I have days where I think, 'What am I doing?' and there are other days where I'm like, 'I'm all up for this next challenge'" Sundhage said upon announcing her departing the US women's national team.^[7] She coached her last game against Australia as part the team's Olympic victory tour on 19 September, defeating them 6–2. With this final win Sundhage was able to leave the team with a 91-6-10(Win-Loss-Tie) record that included two Olympic gold medals and a second-place finish at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[8]

Sweden Women's national team[]

The Swedish Football Association announced early 2 September 2012 that Sundhage signed a four-year contract that starts on 1 December. The announcement came hours after Sundhage's match as coach of the U.S. women's team, an 8–0 win in a friendly match against Costa Rica; the first of a series organized to celebrate the winning of gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Sundhage replaced Thomas Dennerby, who resigned after Sweden failed to reach the semifinals in 2012 Olympics.^[9] "I have long dreamed of becoming Sweden coach and now I am so happy" Sundhage said.^[10] Sundhage's first major tournament as coach of the Sweden team was the 2013 European championship, which Sweden hosted;^[11] Sweden lost 0–1 in the semi-final to Germany, which won the championship.

After the UEFA Women's EURO 2017 tournament, in August 2017, Sundhage left the women's national team. In November 2017, the Swedish Football Association announced the appointment of Sundhage as the new Sweden women's national under-17 football team head coach. Sundhage took over her new duties on 1 January 2018.^[12]

Brazil Women's national team[]

In July 2019, Sundhage accepted an invitation from the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) to become the new coach of the Brazil women's national football team.^[13]

Personal life[]

In January 2010, Sundhage mentioned in a Swedish TV interview that as a lesbian she has not felt any homophobia as a coach. "There has been no problem for me to be openly gay as head coach in the U.S.," said Sundhage.^[14]

Career statistics[]

Matches and goals scored at World Cup & Olympic tournaments[]

	Key (expand for notes on “world cup and olympic goals”)
Location	Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred
Lineup	Start – played entire match on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time (c) – captain
Min	The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass	The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk	Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score	The match score after the goal was scored.
Result	The final score. W – match was won L – match was lost to opponent D – match was drawn (W) – penalty-shoot-out was won after a drawn match (L) – penalty-shoot-out was lost after a drawn match
aet	The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso	Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parenthesis; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
	Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
	Blue background color – FIFA women's world cup final tournament

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
China 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup
	1	1991-11-17^{[m 1]}	Panyu	United States	Start			2–3 L	Group match
1	2	1991-11-19^{[m 2]}	Foshan	Japan	Start	34	6–0	8–0 W	Group match
2	3	1991-11-21^{[m 3]}	Panyu	Brazil	Start	42	1-0	2–0 W	Group match
3	4	1991-11-24^{[m 4]}	Guangzhou	China PR	Start	3	1-0	1–0 W	Quarter-Final
	5	1991-11-27^{[m 5]}	Panyu	Norway	Start			1–4 L	Semi-Final
4	6	1991-11-29^{[m 6]}	Guangzhou	Germany	Start	11	2-0	4–0 W	3rd Place Match
Sweden 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup
	7	1995-6-5^{[m 7]}	Helsingborg	Brazil	Start			0–1 L	Group match
5	8	1995-6-7^{[m 8]}	Helsingborg	Germany	Start	80	2-2	3–2 W	Group match
	9	1995-6-9^{[m 9]}	Vasteras	Japan	Start			2–0 W	Group match
	10	1995-6-13^{[m 10]}	Helsingborg	China PR	Start			1–1 (pso 3–4) (L)	Quarter-Final
Atlanta 1996 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
	11	1996-7-21^{[m 11]}	Miami	China PR	Start			0–2 L	Group match
	12	1996-7-23^{[m 12]}	Orlando	United States	Start			1–2 L	Group match
	13	1996-7-25^{[m 13]}	Orlando	Denmark	Start			3–1 W	Group match

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments[]

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
1984 European Championship
1	1	1984-3-1^{[m 14]}	Rome	Italy	Start	50	2-2	3–2 W	Semi-Final 1st Leg
2	2	1984-4-1^{[m 15]}	Linköping	Italy	Start	57	2-1	2–1 W	Semi-Final 2nd Leg
3	3	1984-5-27^{[m 16]}	Göteborg	England	Start	57	1-0	1–0 W	Final 1st Leg
	4	1984-5-27^{[m 17]}	Luton	England	Start			0–1 L^{[note 1]}	Final 2nd Leg
1987 European Championship
	5	1987-6-11^{[m 18]}	Moss	England	Start			3–2 W	Semi-Final
	6	1987-6-14^{[m 19]}	Oslo	Norway	Start			1–2 L	Final
1989 European Championship
	7	1989-6-28^{[m 20]}	Lüdenscheid	Norway	Start			1–2 L	Semi-Final
4	8	1989-6-30^{[m 21]}	Osnabrück	Italy	Start	43	1-1	2–1 W	3rd Place Match
1995 European Championship
	9	1995-2-26^{[m 22]}	Kristiansand	Norway	Start			3–4 L	Semi-Final 1st Leg
	10	1995-3-5^{[m 23]}	Jönköping	Norway	Start			4–1 W	Semi-Final 2nd Leg
	11	1995-3-26^{[m 24]}	Kaiserslautern	Germany	Start			2–3 L	Final

Managerial statistics[]

All competitive league games (league and domestic cup) and international matches (including friendlies) are included.

As of 20 July 2021

Team	Nat	Year	Record
Team	Nat	Year	G	W	D	L	Win %
Hammarby IF		1992–1994	66	33	13	20	050.00
Boston Breakers		2003	21	10	7	4	047.62
Kolbotn		2004	18	9	1	8	050.00
Örebro DFF		2005–2006	44	16	11	17	036.36
United States women		2007–2012	107	91	10	6	085.05
Sweden women		2012–2017	39	20	8	11	051.28
Brazil women		2019–Present	19	12	5	2	063.16
Career total			314	191	55	68	060.83

Honours[]

Player[]

Jitex BK

Damallsvenskan: 1979, 1981, 1984, 1989
Svenska Cupen: 1981, 1984

Hammarby IF DFF

Svenska Cupen: 1994, 1995

Sweden

FIFA Women's World Cup: third place 1991
UEFA European Women's Championship: 1984; runner-up 1987, 1995; third place 1989
European Competition for Women's Football: third place 1979 (non-official competition)
Women's Nordic Football Championship: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981; runner-up 1982
Algarve Cup: 1995
Cyprus Tournament: 1990, 1992
North America Cup: 1987

Individual

European Competition for Women's Football top scorer: 1984
European Competition for Women's Football best player: 1984
Damallsvenskan top scorer: 1982, 1983
Women's Nordic Football Championship top scorer^{[not specific enough to verify]}

Managerial[]

United States Women

Sweden Women

2016 Olympic Silver Medal